Villarreal vs Barcelona

Villarreal vs Barcelona

Following a successful, yet extremely boring Champions League group stage finale in midweek, Barcelona are back in action on Sunday night with what has become a really, really tough away match in La Liga over the last several years.

Barça travel to the Estadio de la Cerámica, formerly known as El Madrigal, to face Villarreal in a historically difficult game for the Blaugrana. The Catalans still lead the league but wins on Saturday for Valencia and Real Madrid have put tremendous pressure on Barça to win a game they don’t usually win and still have a healthy lead.

Villarreal are once again contending for Europe this season and despite two losses in a row in the league, this is still a very good team that can kill teams on the counter and has a very dangerous strike partnership in Carlos Bacca and Cédric Bakambu. This is a big challenge for Barça, and they need to show a lot more than what we’ve seen in recent weeks to get a much-needed win at a tough ground.

TEAM NEWS

Andrés Iniesta did not recover in time for this one, so the captain misses another game due to a muscle injury. Gerard Deulofeu was left out of the squad for this one, which is a clear sign that Valverde has had enough of Deulo’s poor decision making and work rate.

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Since this is an away game against a good team, we already know two things: (1) it’ll be a 4-4-2 formation designed to make the game boring and unwatchable, and (2) Nélson Semedo will not start at right-back with Sergi Roberto once again playing a position he can’t play. This is how Valverde rolls, and we just have to accept it until he decides to change, is forced to change or is forced to leave.